Student shares grandfather's war story

Greg Sharpe, left, and an officer with Air and Space Power Journal, right, pose in front of the Air University Press booth during the annual Society of Military History Conference at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Montgomery Friday.(Photo: Rebecca Burylo/Advertiser)Buy Photo

A shadowbox hanging on his grandfather's wall held secrets U.S. Air Force Maj. Charlie Taylor thought he would never know about his grandfather's time as a prisoner of war during World War II.

While studying at Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Taylor decided to find out and was scheduled to present his findings at the annual Society for Military History Conference held Friday through Saturday at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa in downtown Montgomery.

Taylor, along with nearly 1,100 military historians, soldiers and citizens from all over the nation, congregated at the Renaissance Hotel for the conference hosted by the Air University Foundation at Maxwell Air Force Base.

The Society for Military History began meeting in 1933 as the American Military History Foundation and is devoted to stimulating and advancing the study of military history with more than 3,000 members worldwide.

Taylor's grandfather, private Rogers L. Taylor, served in the U.S. Army during WWII in the Philippines. He was captured by the Japanese, forced to walk in the Bataan Death March and was a POW until the camp's liberation.

"I only knew various prison camps he went to, but I didn't know when he got there or when he left them," Taylor explained. "I didn't know what treatment he received, and I was able to get all of that and piece some of the stories together that he told. I also understood the liberation a little bit more."

Taylor used resources at Air University to help in his research, and he talked to international officers and peers from Tokyo. His findings led to a 68-page research paper that included historic photos and documents.

Presenters, like Taylor, were able to select their own topics, which led to a variety of presentations ranging from Colonial battles, European warfare and American conflicts, to military court and criminality, professional military education and military in the digital age.

Last year the conference was held in Kansas City. It has been 18 years since SMH visited Alabama's capitol city.

"We hit Montgomery like a hurricane," said John G. Terino, chairman of the department of strategy and leadership at ACSC. "The conference is a place where folks can come in and present their research and meet and socialize and network."

Those who wish to participate submitted their research topics and papers to a vetting committee, which then selected who would present. Presenters could present individually or on a panel with others covering a similar subject. A question-and-answer period followed each session.

Taylor presented on a panel for Leadership Lessons for the Modern Citizen Soldier, tying his grandfather's experiences to those fighting today and what helped his grandfather survive.

"My grandfather's story is unique because he survived," Taylor said. "There were only 44 percent of his company that survived, and the three factors I found that helped him were luck, but also where and how he grew up. He was a one of 13 children and grew up in the Great Depression as a farmer, sharecropper. I believe some of that hard experience he had as a young man helped him come home."